Term Paper Business English

Are electric cars the future solution of our mobility?

Driving Green

What comes to your mind when you think about cars? One may think about a super luxury British sports coupe. The other will have the image of a functional family van in his mind. Just a simple question that can tell you a lot about attitudes and characteristics of somebody. Is it a career oriented business man showing his success or a loving father who plans weekend trips with his family? The car has developed from a simple transportation method over a status symbol to a lifestyle object, and sometimes to a partner, when people have an emotional relationship to their automobiles. Obviously, both the business man and the family father are very different characters; they have one thing in common: the regular stop at the gas station. And both will have a look at the price table first. And both will start shaking their heads after seeing a new price peak. Where will be the end? Maybe 200$ per barrel oil? And if yes, how much are we going to pay per liter? 2 ? 3 ? 5 ?

According to car manufacturers and politicians all over the planet this scenario is inevitable and everyone uses one special term: electric mobility is the magic word (Fraunhofer IAO, PwC, 6-7). They are developing new models and testing them in pilot projects to accelerate the entry into the market; however are electric cars the solution for our future mobility?
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The most important criteria for a buying decision is the price and unless electric vehicles are a lot more expensive than conventional combustion engine models, the customer will prefer the second option. Simply comparing the price of a 2011 Opel Astra with the new Opel Ampera electric car demonstrates a difference of nearly 20.000, although both automobiles have similar figures concerning size, power, luxury and safety features (Vogt, Focus Online). Therefore, car manufacturers are asking for subsidies by the government to stimulate the demand for e-mobiles (IAO, PwC, 18-24), but forced by the impact of the global economic and financial crisis the politic leaders are concentrating on other issues. And as a result, the taxpayers is spent elsewhere. The consequence is that Toyota, GM, VW and the others are left alone with the costs of improving their technic and passing these costs to the customer. Moreover this improvement is essential, because difficulties in the technical application are another key problem of modern electric vehicles. Caused by the early stage of development many customers are choosing the reliable older standards to which they are used to and which they know. Especially the batteries that provide energy to the electric motor are the Achilles heel of the new technology (Stirn, Stramann, Zeit Online). Having a short lifetime and being extraordinary expensive are not the only weaknesses. In particular the range of an electric car is too small for longer distances (IAO, PwC, 34-36). Of course this is enough for the daily use or for commuting to work, but most people are using their cars for longer trips and holidays and in view of the charging times of such batteries nobody wants to sit next to plugged-in car on a motorway for hours. Moreover a fundamental question: Where does the energy come from? Exactly! From the socket. Fortunately the societies in many countries have changed their minds after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima and are questioning the electricity generation. Nuclear energy, who was seen as an emission free method of energy production and also as an emission free source of electric mobility, is no possibility anymore. However, the renewable energies are not ready to supply the demand on their own, resulting in a reactivation of gas and coal plants with huge CO2 emissions.

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Definitely a contradiction in the eyes of the consumer, who doesnt want to support this effect and rejects the opportunity of electric cars powered by nuclear or coal plants. Despite this contradiction electric cars could help to lower the CO2 emissions with their one unique feature of being a huge mobile storage device. A major problem in todays energy generation is the fact that the electricity cannot be stored, which causes a permanent overproduction leading to more emissions, based on the consumption peaks in the morning and in the evening, where the households consume a lot more electricity than in the night and during day. A similar problematic exists with the renewable energies, mainly wind and solar. These systems are just operating in ideal conditions and are not able to generate a constant amount of energy.

A combination of renewable energies, smart grids and thousands of electric cars as storage will help to distribute and decentralize the energy supply and prepare it for future challenges. Steady improvement is the key, not just for the energy sector but also for electric mobility. There is no reason that anybody would ever want to have a computer at home. A famous quotation of Ken Olson in 1977, CEO and founder of Digital Equipment, shows how fast our world is changing. Computers are present in nearly
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every aspect of our life. Another example is the mobile phone being a heavy, expensive and senseless gadget in the beginning; it can replace an office now. In your pocket. The same process can be predicted to electric cars. Models like the Mini E or the E smart are successfully tested in pilot projects by normal people in their everyday life (Kirchberger, FAZ.NET), and helped the manufacturers with important feedback. Additionally they are trying to keep the emotional factor alive by building sports cars like the SLS E-Cell (Grnweg, Spiegel Online), or by giving the customer the opportunity to choose a special upgrade for his silent e-mobile to make it sound like an old American muscle car.

Purchasing a car is not a daily decision and such small features are also needed to convince the customer and have been realized by the producers to gain more acceptance for electric cars. Finally we have to accept that fossil fuels are limited. According to a study of the German Bundeswehr the peak oil could has been reached in 2010 and the sources are starting to dry up. The rising demand in emerging markets leads to a higher consumption and higher prices for fuels. Especially the populous nations India and China, who have a comparatively low amount of cars and even a much smaller CO2 footprint, are heading towards individual mobilization. Based on rising incomes and rising wealth, these people are beginning to fulfill their dream of an own car. However that income is too low to afford a high-tech electric car and consequently they are focusing on cheap models like the Tata Nano. The only reasonable possibility would be
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that Europeans, Americans and other industrialized nations stop producing more emissions by buying electric cars. All in all we will have no choice and our future mobility will depend on electric cars. The rising prices of limited fossil fuels will force us to a new point of view concerning automobiles. Even if the manufacturers could built more efficient combustion engines, the fast growth of global traffic would not stop. The only way to keep mobility affordable and to avoid it from becoming a luxury is to intensify the research and development of electric mobility. However, it is the decision of every single person, but my opinion is clear: Electric cars are the only solution for our future mobility. And no matter if you are a business man or a family father, loading your car at home is much more comfortable than searching for the cheapest gas station every day.

References
Grnweg, Tim: Das neue Wrrrommm [Geben Sie Text ein]

Spiegel Online. Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell, 28 June 2010 http://www.spiegel.de/auto/fahrberichte/0,1518,702775,00.html Kirchberger, Michael: E wie elektrisch oder wie Ernst FAZ.NET. Smart mit Batterie, 11 January 2011 http://www.faz.net/artikel/C30215/smart-mit-batterie-e-wie-elektrisch-oder-wie-ernst30001553.html Kriener, Manfred: Zurck in die Zukunft. Zeit Online. Die Zeit, 9 October 09. Web. no.39. http://www.zeit.de/2009/38/A-Elektroauto/seite-16:01 p.m. Stramann, Burkhard and Stirn, Alexander: Strom fr die Strae. Zeit Online. Zeit Wissen,21 May 2010. Web. no.3/2010 http://www.zeit.de/zeit-wissen/2010/03/Elektroauto-Akku/seite-1 Vogt, Martin: Das iPhone fr die Strae Focus Online. Fahrbericht Opel Ampera, 18 April 2011 http://www.focus.de/auto/fahrberichte/tid-21995/fahrbericht-opel-ampera-das-iphone-fuerdie-strasse_aid_618823.html

Zentrum fr Transformation der Bundeswehr: Peak Oil- Sicherheitspolitische Implikationen knapper Ressourcen Dezernat Zukunftsanalyse, Strauberg, 2010. Print/Web. http://www.zentrumtransformation.bundeswehr.de/resource/resource/MzEzNTM4MmUzMzM yMmUzMTM1MzMyZTM2MzIzMDMwMzAzMDMwMzAzMDY3NmIzMDczNmUzMTcwMzkyMDI wMjAyMDIw/Peak%20Oil%20%20Sicherheitspolitische%20Implikationen%20knapper%20Ressourcen.pdf

Fraunhofer IAO, Pricewaterhouse Coopers: Elektromobilitt- Herausforderung fr Industrie und ffentliche Hand PwC, June 2010. Print/Web.

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http://www.econsense.de/_CSR_MITGLIEDER/_NACHHALTIGE_PRODUKTE/images/Studie%20He rausforderung%20der%20Elektromobilitaet%20Juni%202010.pdf

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